A typology of faculty-student relations is presented that focuses on the socialization process taking place within the cultures of college and university departments. By looking at relationships rather than separate roles, an attempt is made to explain the problem of social distance between and among specialists and ways of adaptation and creative accommodation. Within a fourfold matrix, five types of teaching styles are described as potentially meshing with particular learning styles. The five types are: (1) the (democratic) colleague-colleague, and (2) the (hierarchical) prince-disciple (both styles indicating high emphasis of both teacher and student on both task and socio-emotional factors); (3) bureacratic-stranger (low on both task and socio-emotional); (4) merchant-client (high on task, low on socio-emotional); and (5) personalist-needy type (low on task, high on socio-emotional factors in the relationship). Illustrations are taken from ethnographic and journalistic observations made by student evaluators of the classroom. The typology and matching of teacher and learner styles has implications for policy making and may be applicable to learning relationships in all contexts, both in and out of the college setting. A review of the literature on other typologies of teacher and students is included. (SW)